You'll find unbiased coverage of pet insurance from a veterinarian's perspective with a focus on companies that offer policies to pets in the United States. In fact, you'll likely find information here that you won't find anywhere else.

Check out the Pet Insurance Guide Podcast - the first and only podcast dedicated solely to providing unbiased information about the pet insurance industry to pet owners. You'll find interviews with company representatives - oftentimes the Founder, President, or CEO of the company sharing insights into their companies policies as well as the industry itself. I also interview other guest and talk about topics that will help you when you are making decisions about pet insurance.

If you are trying to make up your mind about pet insurance, I've written a 15 page, information packed Ebook entitled "Your Guide To Understanding Pet Health Insurance." This book will help you understand how pet insurance works, offer some insights from my perspective as a veterinarian, and help you decide if pet insurance is something you really need to consider purchasing.

For help finding a company and policy to insure your pet, check out the Pet Insurance Toolkit. Read the testimonials from readers who have used the Toolkit to help them narrow down their choices from the dozen or so companies that insure pets in the United States and confidently choose the one company and policy that best fits their needs.

I also welcome comments after blog posts because it helps other readers learn more and join the conversation. I personally reply to comments when appropriate.

Thanks so much for visiting this website and if you have questions about pet insurance in general, specific companies, etc. - you can email meanytime and I'll get back with you as soon as possible. My goal is to make this site one of the most informative and helpful sources about pet insurance anywhere and if I can possibly help you, I'm glad to do so. If you know of others who have pets that might benefit from the information on this blog, please spread the word.

February 23, 2015

Just got this in an email today: In podcast Episode 25, I interviewed a client who has a policy with Healthy Paws - the first company to introduce such an app and she gave it rave reviews. More companies are likely working on a similar app to make the filing of claims easier which will allow policyholders to get their... Read more →

October 31, 2014

My friend, Dr. Jason Nicholas (aka. The Preventive Vet) offers tips on keeping your pets who may go trick or treating with you safe this Halloween. He warns against dangers that most people never think of, but can lead to a problem that could threaten your pet's life and result in a huge vet bill. Therefore, heed the warnings -... Read more →

October 06, 2014

Most mushrooms are not toxic, but your backyard may contain some that are - especially during the rainy seasons. This tragic story should serve as a warning to all pet owners to regularly inspect their yards for anything that could harm their pets. Although this blog is primarily dedicated to pet health insurance, because I am a veterinarian who believes... Read more →

September 25, 2014

I came across an excellent article with information about the needs of our senior pets and products that can improve their quality of life and comfort. Many of these same recommendations are made by veterinarians to their clients with senior pets to help them manage various chronic conditions and meet their stage of life needs. Be sure to ask your... Read more →

September 22, 2014

Nationwide, one of the country's largest insurance and financial services companies, has been the underwriter for Veterinary Pet Insurance since it began in 1982. In the next few months, VPI will be rebranded as Nationwide Pet Insurance. I talked with Dr. Carol McConnell last week about this and other exciting changes that will be unveiled in the next year or... Read more →

September 12, 2014

The North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) just released the Top 10 Claims list of 2013 gathered from proprietary data in its State of the Industry Benchmarking Report. Dogs: $40,606 Hip Dysplasia - 3-year-old female Border Collie Cross $36,485 Pleural Effusion (build-up of excess fluid between the layers of the pleura outside the lung) - 1-year-old male Rottweiler $29,173... Read more →

September 10, 2014

In my last post, I discussed an article by a pet owner who received her pet insurance renewal letter and discovered the premium was increasing 52%! I ended the post asking this question, "What strategies can pet insurance companies put in place to greatly reduce the need to increase premiums dramatically at one time or is it simply unavoidable from... Read more →

September 05, 2014

Laura Bennett, the CoFounder and CEO of Embrace pet insurance company recently posted a link to an article written by a pet owner who received her pet insurance renewal letter and discovered the premium was increasing by 52%! This article is perhaps the most well thought-out response to the issue of increasing pet insurance premiums I've ever seen. This is... Read more →

June 12, 2014

One of the most frequently asked questions about pet insurance is "Is it worth getting for my pet?" I'm actually surprised by how many consumer advocacy groups1 and financial experts tend to look at pet insurance like it is an "investment." They should know better. Here's their logic. Most people who purchase pet insurance, or any insurance for that matter,... Read more →

April 01, 2014

I had two clients in the past week bring up pet insurance when we were discussing a medical workup to diagnose and treat their seriously ill pets. Let's face it, when a pet gets a serious / major illness, it can potentially cost thousands of dollars to figure out what's wrong and then treat it - hopefully with a good... Read more →

February 14, 2014

Normally, I write for this blog from a veterinarian’s perspective. Today, I writing from a pet owner’s perspective. A little over a year ago, our family’s dog, Penny Lane, was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma. Since this is one of the cancers that is usually very responsive to chemotherapy, we decided to treat her with a 25 week regimen. I administered... Read more →

February 04, 2014

Petplan pet insurance company released a list of the top 10 conditions for which claims were filed in 2013 for both dogs and cats: Vomiting and Diarrhea Cancer Lameness Skin infections Allergies Periodontal Disease Ear Infections Cruciate injuries Urinary Tract Infections Foreign Body Ingestion Most of the conditions in this list could summarize the cases I see almost everyday in... Read more →

December 18, 2013

I've invited Sara, a reader of my blog, to share a guest post with you today. She will share her story about why she decided to research pet insurance companies again after having a policy with the same company for 14 years. The insights she shares are valuable whether you are considering pet insurance for the first time or considering... Read more →

October 23, 2013

Dr. Jules Benson of Petplan pet insurance offers excellent advice about Halloween treats that can be toxic to your pets and how to prevent a potentially expensive visit to the vet during this holiday. You can also listen to the podcast interview I had with Dr. Benson about Petplan and their policies. Read more →

October 14, 2013

Recently, 24 Petwatch introduced their new policies that should ease some of the angst of former PurniaCare policyholders since Pethealth bought PurinaCare's pet insurance business this past summer. The policies more closely resemble PurinaCare's policies and they are a major improvement to the policies that 24 Petwatch has offered in the past. The policies have an 80% coinsurance (20% copay).... Read more →

October 02, 2013

Pets Best pet insurance company recently announced that it's Best Benefit policies now cover hereditary and congenital conditions up to the full annual maximum. Previously, coverage was limited for hereditary conditions and congenital conditions were not covered. The changes may not yet be approved and available in all 50 states. You can check coverage in your state here. There are... Read more →

August 22, 2013

So, you purchase pet insurance, visit your vet and pay your bill, file a claim for a covered expense with the pet insurance company, but reimbursement for the claim is denied. The reason - you didn't file the claim within the alloted time frame specified in the policy. Most pet insurance policies require you to file a claim within 90... Read more →

June 03, 2013

This article highlights several key points when considering the purchase of pet insurance: 1) Buy early before your pet is diagnosed with conditions that will be considered pre-existing. 2) Be diligent doing research on all the companies before you buy so you won't later regret your choice of company and/or policy to insure your pet. 3) Unexpected veterinary bills can... Read more →

May 01, 2013

A recent theme of my blog posts has been examples of claims paid by various pet insurance companies in the Unitied States. I found a page on the Healthy Paws blog that gives many examples of claims they have paid. Notice that most of the claims were for acute, unexpected illnesses or injuries. This is why people consider the purchase... Read more →

April 22, 2013

Following up on the theme of the last post, I found an article where someone had "crunched" the numbers and decided that pet insurance would be a bad deal for him and his pets. Of course, he was doing a "hindsight" evaluation. If some of you did a similar evaluation, you might reach the same conclusion that Bob did. That... Read more →

April 20, 2013

I came across an article in a newspaper with the same title and my first thought was "This person gets it!" You'll see why I say that after reading this post. Here are a few excerpts and my comments: Consumers take out insurance to transfer the risk of something happening to the insurer. For a fee, the insurer then agrees... Read more →

April 18, 2013

Pethealth has acquired PurinaCare's pet insurance business with an official closing date of May 1, 2013. In the United States, Pethealth offers pet insurance through 24PetWatch and ShelterCare. Although the news of this merger came out in a press release about 3 weeks ago, virtually no details were offered about how it would affect current PurinaCare policyholders. The following details... Read more →

April 17, 2013

The Pets Best Insurance Blog recently did a series of articles on common toxins that affect pets. It's worth the read if only to make you aware of potential toxins that you probably have in and around your home so you can take steps to make sure your pet doesn't have access to them. Otherwise, you could face a rather... Read more →

April 05, 2013

Trupanion has a page on their blog entitled "Claim of the Week" and it appears like there are over a hundred examples of claims they have paid. Their policies have a 10% copay. Pet owners can choose a deductible between $0 and $1000. This allows you to manipulate the deductible to get a premium within your budget, but since Trupanion... Read more →

April 03, 2013

A few days ago I had a post about claim examples from Petplan. Just today I found a page on Embrace's website where they have many examples of claims they have paid. Embrace allows pet owners to select among several annual maximums, deductibles and copays. This allows you to custom design your own policy to get a premium you can... Read more →